Public Transit

Route 719 Bus Never Showed Up This Morning

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I was out to the road by 8:47 AM, and to the bus stop a few minutes early. But I waited and waited, no Route 719 bus ever showed up. I ended up snagging the Route 18 local downtown at 9:09 AM.

CDTA_Gillig_HybridThen Delaware Avenue was blocked up due to a car crash, further delaying the Route 18 heading downtown. God really doesn’t want me to get to work today.

I’ve really gotten away from riding the local in favor of the 719, as the express is a little more quicker, and certainly much quieter. The express usually only stops 3-4 times before getting to work – usually just the Park and Ride and the Empire Plaza. Plus, it always gets me to work at a more appropriate hour.

BlWC-rFCIAA8TrV.jpg largeIt was a chilly morning waiting out for the bus this morning. I didn’t plan to get stuck waiting for 20 minutes for a bus that never came. So be it. I could have just driven Big Red downtown, but by the time — I find a on-street parking spot and walked to work, I would have saved time by just waiting for the bus.

It was a cold morning waiting for a bus that didn't come this morning. Usually the 719 is right about on time, or a few minutes early. Then there was a traffic accident in Albany that further delayed the local bus downtown.

The 719 Today

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The Route 719 bus seems fairly lightly used today for the late run downtown. Four people heading downtown. But I guess this is the most off-peak time that it runs, and you got to offer service at different times if you want get people to ride the bus. Still it sure is convenient, even if the primary benefit is getting to work a little earlier for me.Untitled2

Another day with fairly light ridership of the 719 late bus downtown.

CDTA Route 719 Downtown at 9:15 Bus Growth is Exponential

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That’s how I look at it. I think there was just one passenger on the Monday, when the service started. Then I rode the bus on Tuesday and Wednesday, and there was me and one other passenger. A third passenger got on Thursday. Today, Friday, there were 9 passengers on the bus – almost up to a sustainable ride count. It will be interesting to see how things are next week.  Maybe by the time we reach the end of February the bus will be packed.


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More then half of the spaces in the Park and Ride Lot were filled this morning. That’s encouraging.

I know it’s off-peak, but some of it is the fault of CDTA not doing a very good job at promoting the new buses along the Voorheesville Route. They could do a lot better job at promoting bus ridership, especially to suburban commuters. I believe there is a lot of demand for express buses if they could only explain to people the benefits and ease of riding the bus.

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Maybe they should have done more advertising – either television or radio. That’s expensive, but a good way to reach out to people. That said, the most effective way to reach people is direct mail. They could have mailed everyone a bus schedule within a ¼ mile of the new Route 719. Throw in a free day pass as an added perk, as the lost revenue would be minimal. It probably wouldn’t have cost more than $10,000 or so – a reasonable proposition especially if you’re planning on investing and building the bus service over the long-term.

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They could have also put big banners at the Park and Ride, and maybe even signs at select bus stops saying “More Buses Here Soon! See www.cdta.org”. But by not fully pushing the bus service, they have failed to maximize the possible ridership and are potentially dooming the additional service to failure.

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Ridership is increasing on the late bus to downtown, but it could be better if there was more aggressive promotion of the Voorheesville/Altamont/Park and Ride Bus.

Would You Ride This Bus to the State Office Campus?

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That is when it’s 90 degrees out or -10 degrees out?

Think about it for a minute. Any bus rider who wants to ride the bus, under this rendering of the proposal will be forced to walk 500 feet with no shelter to their office building in the State Office Campus. If you not going to drive, the least you would expect would be the bus to drop you off in front of your office — especially if you’re a middle class person who works for government and can afford an automobile.


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No Shelter from the Office to Bus

Not only would such proposal make you walk, but if it’s raining out, you would get quite wet. There are no provisions for a roof over the sidewalk from the bus stop — 500 feet in the pouring rain. If you’re a professional who wears a suit to work, good luck not ruining it on your daily bus commute.


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A Dangerous Walk to Work

This picture suggests that one would have to cross not only the Busway to get to work, but the inner-loop of the State Office Campus. Look both ways, and maybe if the drivers are feeling very nice, maybe they will stop for you. But don’t bet on it! Run quickly, and buy yourself a good life insurance policy.

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Not to Mention Most State Office Workers Don’t Even Live in the City

Most Middle-Class State Workers live in the suburbs, such as Clifton Park or Delmar. A bus that heads from Crossgates Mall to the State Office Campus — or worst from Downtown to the State Office Campus won’t help them out much at all, besides drinking up their taxpayer dollars.

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Not Opposed to Bus Rapid Transit But Use Some Common Sense

It might make sense to speed buses up along Western Avenue by running them along one of the underused Ring Roads — possibly dedicated exclusively to bus use. Most of the traffic on the Route 10 bus goes between colleges, so avoiding some traffic lights might make sense. Or maybe the bus should just follow the existing State Office Campus Roads, with a simpler and cheaper connector to the University of Albany.

But it’s silly to build a bus station in the middle of nowhere that nobody is ever going to use, and claim your including the State Office Campus in your routing, when all your doing is driving through it to save time. If you want to improve transit, send more buses at an affordable rate to places where people actually live or park and ride to, rather than bus stop that will never be used.

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I had to laugh when I saw the proposed routing for the new BusPlus at the State Office Campus.

Took the Express Bus In for the First Time

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Monday started the new Route 719 express service downtown past my house. It actually only saves about 5 minutes, and it means I only to work a few minutes earlier, but it’s still nice not to be in a pokey bus going downtown. Route 32 at least psychologically seems a lot faster than taking Delaware Avenue and stopping every few stops.

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I had previously taken the earlier 719 bus downtown, but that bus was so early that it didn’t work well with my schedule — I would get to work well before 9 AM — and that made for unnecessarily long days.

So far that bus seems lightly subscribed to. I was the second passenger to get on the bus, at Delaware and Cherry – despite the bus starting at 20 Mall then visiting Altamont and Voorheesville before passing my house. No further passengers got on the bus. It was such a change into the routine, and quite a pleasant experience compared to riding the normal bus, I question how long it can last with such light ridership. Maybe people need to become more aware of the service, but I question how long it will be in tooth.

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It certainly was a different experience compared to the normal bus ride.

 

Took the lightly used, later new Route 719 bus downtown this morning. It was a pleasant experience.

Sunday Starts the New CDTA Bus Services

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I am absolutely thrilled that starting Monday I will be able to take the Route 719 express bus downtown at a reasonable hour for work. It used to be an option for me, but it always so early, that I would get to work like 30-45 minutes earlier then necessary. I had done that occasionally in the past when I needed to get to work early, but otherwise, I am not going to get to work a half hour early when there is no reason get there so early.

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While riding the bus is much easier than dealing with city traffic, taking the uncrowded express downtown sure will be nice for a change. Occasionally I may take the local in evening, especially when I have to stay late for work, but especially during the slow time of the year (the summer months), the express bus will be awesome.

Several other lines will be changing expanding their services too …

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